The Trolls
The Film: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
The Villain: A trio of trolls who Bilbo falls foul of on his journey to face the story’s Big Bad, Smaug (more on him in 2013). Remember those stone trolls in the extended cut of Fellowship of the Ring ? This is them!
How Scary: Perhaps not as scary as the fearsome Smaug, but for a Hobbit who’s never previously left the Shire, they’re plenty scary enough.
Boris the Animal
The Film: Men In Black 3
The Villain: Jermain Clement will play Boris, a bearded biker hell-bent on killing Agent K in the ’60s. If he is successful, he’ll spark a chain reaction that will eventually lead to Earth’s destruction. Bummer.
How Scary: Given that Clement is involved, we’d bank on Boris playing it for laughs rather than scares.
Mickey Cohen
The Film: The Gangster Squad
The Viillain: Sean Penn’s ’40s mobster has Los Angeles in a stranglehold, until former military man Josh Brolin returns from combat to head up an elite squad of coppers charged with bringing the big man down.
How Scary: Sean Penn always seems a bit unhinged. Couple that manic intensity with a character who’s rotten to the core, and you’ve got a formidable villain…
The Lizard
The Film: The Amazing Spider-Man
The Villain: The reptilian alter-ego of Dr. Curt Connors is the latest in a long line of mad scientists to attempt to lay waste to New York. Fortunately, Peter Parker helped bring him into being, so he should be well-placed to put a stop to his rampage…
How Scary: Rhy Ifans’ scenery-chewing antics in the trailer suggest to us that the Lizard will be taking a slightly pantomime approach to his villainy.
Queen Ravenna
The Film: Snow White and the Huntsman
The Villain: Charlize Theron plays the wicked queen in this stylish retelling of the Snow White fairytale. What makes her so villainous? The fact she wants to eat Snow White’s heart, for starters…
How Scary: Heart-munching proclivities aside, we’ve a hunch Ravenna might be as sexy as she is scary…
Bond Villain #23
The Film: Skyfall
The Villain: We don’t know too much about Bond’s latest nemesis, save that he will be played by Javier Bardem and his plan will threaten MI6 itself. And if the on-set images of a haggard-looking Daniel Craig are anything to go by, he’s a villain who will push Bond to breaking point.
How Scary: If Bardem is even half as scary as he was in No Country For Old Men , we’ll be watching through our fingers…
Loki's Army
The Film: The Avengers
The Villain: Are they the Skrulls? Are they the Kree? Are they the sons of Muspell? We still don’t know for sure, although those figures spotted in the trailer look like the Skrulls to us. Or maybe the Frost Giants? Gaah, we just don’t know!
How Scary: Judging by the damage they cause to downtown Manhattan, very!
Loki
The Film: The Avengers
The Villain: Thor’s half-brother is back on the big screen, and this time he has an army backing him up. “You were made to be ruled,” he sneers at the inhabitants of Earth. Uh-oh…
How Scary: Loki seems far more driven and far clearer in his ambitions, this time around. And then there’s that army he keeps banging on about…
Calvin Candie
The Film: Django Unchained
The Villain: Leo DiCaprio’s brutal owner of a slave plantation, who also runs “gentlemen’s club” Candyland. In case you were wondering, the employees of the latter are just about as liberated as those of the former.
How Scary: A sadistic, racist slave-owner, and a rapist to boot. Pretty scary, in other words.
Bane
The Film: The Dark Knight Rises
The Villain: A musclebound terrorist, possibly operating in conjunction with The League Of Shadows, Bane is hell-bent on reducing Gotham to a heap of smoking rubble. He’s not the first to want that of course, but from the looks of that stadium scene, he’s the best positioned to bring Gotham to its knees.
How Scary: Look at the state he leaves Bruce Wayne in in the trailer. Anyone who can do that to the Batman is worthy of your fear.
